Smriti Irani Moved Out Of HRD Ministry In Modi Govt's Biggest Cabinet Rejig

NEW DELHI, INDIA - DECEMBER 21: HRD Minister Smriti Irani comes out of the Patiala Court on December 21, 2015 in New Delhi, India. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley filed a defamation suit against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and sought Rs.10 crore in damages for accusing him of corruption when he headed the DDCA. Kejriwal retorted that he and his AAP can't be intimidated. (Photo by Ravi Choudhary/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

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In a major cabinet reshuffle that comes close on the heels of its two-year anniversary, Narendra Modi government has moved Smriti Irani, one of its most high-profile and controversial faces, into the relatively low-key textiles ministry. In other significant changes, Venkaiah Naidu has become the information and broadcasting minister, which Arun Jaitley now loses. Naidu's Parliamentary Affairs portfolio has gone to senior BJP leader Anant Kumar. Ravishankar Prasad has lost the telecom portfolio, which has gone to Manoj Sinha. Prasad gets law, which will be vacated by Sadananda Gowda, who has been moved to the ministry of statistics and programme implementation. This is the second shift for Gowda, who debuted as railways minister in 2014 but was moved to law soon after.

Jayant Sinha has been moved as minister of state for finance to MoS civil aviation. Journalist M.J. Akbar will debut as MoS for external affairs. This is the second cabinet expansion and first major reshuffle of the Modi government.

Irani, who faced criticism from several quarters for her handling of Hyderabad University dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide and the JNU row, will now head the textiles ministry. She will be replaced by Prakash Javedekar who will head the HRD Ministry, according to news reports.

Vijay Goel was given the charge of the sports ministry. The newly inducted Anupriya Patel will be appointed as the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.

In its biggest reshuffle after assuming power, the Modi government has inducted 19 new cabinet ministers and dropped five junior ministers.